1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic appliance having a display, such as a television set and a personal computer, provided with an improved remote control function, and particularly, to a method of and an apparatus for controlling such an electronic appliance.
2. Description of Related Art
In the 1980s, infrared remote controllers started to be attached to home appliances such as television sets. The remote controllers have widely accepted and greatly changed the usage of home appliances. At present, controlling electronic appliances with remote controllers is in the mainstream. The remote controller basically employs a one-key (one-button), one-function operation. A remote controller for the television set, for example, has ON/OFF, CHANNEL, VOLUME, and INPUT SELECT keys for conducting respectively assigned functions. The remote controller is very useful for remotely controlling the television set and electronic devices connected to the television set.
Data broadcasting that has started recently requires a remote controller to be provided with UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, and OK keys, and the user must push these keys several times to display a required menu. Manipulating a number of keys is troublesome for the user. An EPG (electronic program guide) displays a matrix of guides on the television set and prompts the user to select a desired one of the guides by pushing keys on the remote controller. This is also troublesome for the user.
A related art proposed by this applicant in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-091948 discloses a remote-control technique that uses no remote controller at hand and is flexibly applicable to a variety of electronic apparatuses. This technique employs a video camera to photograph the hand of a user moved with respect to a control button displayed on a display, and according to the hand's motion, identifies a control operation assigned to the control button.
This related art is capable of correctly detecting a hand motion of the user carried out with respect to a control button displayed on a display. The related art, however, is not good at correctly detecting an objective control button specified by a hand of the user on the display if the hand is over a plurality of control buttons including the objective control button, or if the hand and other objects such as the head of the user are superimposed on a plurality of control buttons including the objective control button.